Tossing turning, teeth like razors, long long nights

[mom2happy]

My 9 month old has her 2 top and 2 bottom teeth. When she latches on, I can feel the pressure from those suckers and it hurts. My other one's were late teethers and they didnt need to nurse as frequently because they were older.

I'm thinking because this one got teeth much earlier and crawled earlier that maybe she needs more solids?

This baby is up every hour to nurse at night and tosses in the bed like crazy.

I give her little tastes of things during the day, but no real meals yet. She doesnt take a lot, so I don't want to push her.

I don't want to give her rice or baby food.

When she loses interest, I just don't put anything in her mouth.

Today I gave her a few litte tidbits of a pear I was eating, because she wanted it.

I'm not really trying to feed her all day though.

Do your babies who eat real meals need to nurse this much at night?

[gardenmommy]

I feel your pain, literally!  My 10 month old has 8 sharp teeth.  I have found that if I am super careful about latching her on, then we can nurse normally with little to no pain.  I've started to try to wake up a bit more in the night to make sure she is latched on properly.  She goes through phases where she wakes as often as every 45 min. to an hour, wiggles and squirms all night long, and keeps DH and me awake.  I wish I had an answer, but I guess if I had an easy solution, I'd fix my own situation, lol.  I try to just remind myself that TTSP  (This, too, shall pass).  DD is my 5th baby, so I do know it passes, but those sleepless nights make for loooong days!  Can you take a nap during the day when she doesn't sleep well?  It's not the same as a solid night's sleep, but it can help you survive.

As for solid foods, I try to follow the baby's lead.  If she is interested in it, and it's something I don't mind sharing, then I give her a bite.  I don't want solids to replace breastmilk, so I still nurse on demand.  IME, adding solids doesn't really have any effect on night nursing.  My babies haven't seemed to sleep any better after starting solids, although I guess that's possible.  

Regarding the wiggling all night, do you think that her teeth are bothering her?  I think that sometimes, my DD wakes and is fretful at night because she is uncomfortable.  I like the Boiron camomilia teething remedy.  It seems to work very well, and it helps her settle at least for awhile.  

Good luck!  I hope your babe moves out of this phase quickly.

[Knitting Mama]

In my experience, which is limited to my daughter and the stories from my friends, eating solids doesn't necessarily mean better sleep at night. What might work for you-- and it's rough at first, I know-- is to get up fully at night to nurse her to ensure that she nurses a lot, and then hopefully she will wake less. We are down to one nighttime nursing session at 10 months. I have had to get up to nurse her out of necessity as we use an SNS for my low supply, and I can always be sure she's gotten at least 4-5 ounces before we go back to bed. Good luck!